Today we will see how to list USB devices in Linux and their properties such as speed, BUS, class, type details etc. This is part of our on going hardware detection series. We already covered following stuff.

Get BIOS, Firmware, Hardware And Drivers Details in Linux/Unix

What is dmesg command and how to use it in Linux/Unix?

Find hardware info with lshw, hardinfo, sysinfo Linux/Unix commands

Find PCI hardware details using lspci command in Linux

What is USB?

USB(Universal Serial Bus) is a stranded developed to replace different types of BUS’s available. This is a solution devices to eliminate vendor lock-down of hardware ports, so that BUS’s will be identical across different devices from different vendors. USB devices solve one more problem i.e. speeds. USB devices can reach up 5GB/s as of this writing where as PCI and serial devices have less speeds. Depending of USB firmware, it’s categorize in to USB 1.0, USB 2.0, USB 3.0. USB have competitor in the from of Thunderbolt interface.

As a Linux User/administrator we should know USB bus details as well as devices connected. In this post we will see how to use lsusb command to display different USB properties.

Learn lsusb command with examples

Example 1: List all the USB ports available

	lsusb

Output:

	Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
	Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
	Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
	Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
	Bus 001 Device 003: ID 05c8:021e Cheng Uei Precision Industry Co., Ltd (Foxlink)
	Bus 001 Device 007: ID 0cf3:3005 Atheros Communications, Inc. AR3011 Bluetooth
	Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0781:5567 San Disk Corp. Cruzer Blade

Let us try to understand above output in detail.

Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0781:5567 SanDisk Corp. Cruzer Blade

Bus 002 : This is bus number where SanDisk USB stick is attached.

Device 003: This is the third device attached to bus 002, the other two devices are “Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub” and ” Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub”

ID 0781:5567 is the number given to this SanDisk, The number before : indicates the manufacture ID and number after : indicates device ID. To get more info on this visit Linux-USB site.

SanDisk Corp. Cruzer Blade is the name of manufacture and device name.

Example 2: Check how many USB ports available in your machine so that we can connect USB devices to these ports.

	find /dev/bus/ 

Output:

	/dev/bus/
	/dev/bus/usb
	/dev/bus/usb/002
	/dev/bus/usb/002/006
	/dev/bus/usb/002/005
	/dev/bus/usb/002/004
	/dev/bus/usb/002/002
	/dev/bus/usb/002/001
	/dev/bus/usb/001
	/dev/bus/usb/001/007
	/dev/bus/usb/001/003
	/dev/bus/usb/001/002
	/dev/bus/usb/001/001

These ports may be internal or external to the system.

Example : Get detailed information of a USB device connected to a machine. Suppose I want to see information about /dev/bus/usb/002/005 device use below command

	lsusb -D /dev/bus/usb/002/005

Output:

	
	Device: ID 0951:1643 Kingston Technology Data Traveler G3 4GB
	Couldn't open device, some information will be missing
	Device Descriptor:
	bLength 18
	bDescriptorType 1
	bcdUSB 2.00
	bDeviceClass 0 (Defined at Interface level)
	bDeviceSubClass 0
	bDeviceProtocol 0
	bMaxPacketSize0 64
	idVendor 0x0951 Kingston Technology
	idProduct 0x1643 DataTraveler G3 4GB
	bcdDevice 1.00
	iManufacturer 1
	iProduct 2
	iSerial 3
	bNumConfigurations 1
	Configuration Descriptor:
	bLength 9
	bDescriptorType 2
	wTotalLength 32
	bNumInterfaces 1
	bConfigurationValue 1
	iConfiguration 0
	bmAttributes 0x80
	(Bus Powered)
	MaxPower 200mA
	Interface Descriptor:
	bLength 9
	bDescriptorType 4
	bInterfaceNumber 0
	bAlternateSetting 0
	bNumEndpoints 2
	bInterfaceClass 8 Mass Storage
	bInterfaceSubClass 6 SCSI
	bInterfaceProtocol 80 Bulk-Only
	iInterface 0
	Endpoint Descriptor:
	bLength 7
	bDescriptorType 5
	bEndpointAddress 0x81 EP 1 IN
	bmAttributes 2
	Transfer Type Bulk
	Synch Type None
	Usage Type Data
	wMaxPacketSize 0x0200 1x 512 bytes
	bInterval 0
	Endpoint Descriptor:
	bLength 7
	bDescriptorType 5
	bEndpointAddress 0x02 EP 2 OUT
	bmAttributes 2
	Transfer Type Bulk
	Synch Type None
	Usage Type Data
	wMaxPacketSize 0x0200 1x 512 bytes
	bInterval 0

To know each of these types, click here.

Example 3: Get all the USB ports available and devices connected using verbose mode.

	lsusb -v

Clipped output:

	Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
	Couldn't open device, some information will be missing
	Device Descriptor:
	bLength 18
	bDescriptorType 1
	bcdUSB 2.00
	bDeviceClass 9 Hub
	bDeviceSubClass 0 Unused
	bDeviceProtocol 1 Single TT
	bMaxPacketSize0 64
	idVendor 0x8087 Intel Corp.
	idProduct 0x0024 Integrated Rate Matching Hub
	bcdDevice 0.00
	iManufacturer 0
	iProduct 0
	iSerial 0
	bNumConfigurations 1
	Configuration Descriptor:
	bLength 9
	bDescriptorType 2
	wTotalLength 25
	bNumInterfaces 1
	bConfigurationValue 1
	iConfiguration 0
	bmAttributes 0xe0
	Self Powered
	Remote Wakeup
	MaxPower 0mA
	Interface Descriptor:
	bLength 9
	bDescriptorType 4
	bInterfaceNumber 0
	bAlternateSetting 0
	bNumEndpoints 1
	bInterfaceClass 9 Hub
	bInterfaceSubClass 0 Unused
	bInterfaceProtocol 0 Full speed (or root) hub
	iInterface 0
	Endpoint Descriptor:
	bLength 7
	bDescriptorType 5
	bEndpointAddress 0x81 EP 1 IN
	bmAttributes 3
	Transfer Type Interrupt
	Synch Type None
	Usage Type Data
	wMaxPacketSize 0x0001 1x 1 bytes
	bInterval 12

Example 4: List all mass storage devices in your system.

	lsusb -v | grep -Ei '(idVendor|Mass Storage)'

Output:

	idVendor 0x2006
	bInterfaceClass 8 Mass Storage
	idVendor 0x0781 SanDisk Corp.
	bInterfaceClass 8 Mass Storage
	idVendor 0x0951 Kingston Technology
	bInterfaceClass 8 Mass Storage

From the above output we can find that there are total three USB storage devices present on the machine.

Example 5: Find USB devices protocol version.

	lsusb -v | grep -i bcdusb

Output:

	bcdUSB 1.10
	bcdUSB 2.00
	bcdUSB 2.00
	bcdUSB 2.00

Depending on the version, the speed varies. Below table give you clear idea about the speeds associated with these versions.

Example 6: Find USB device supported speeds by using tree structure option

	lsusb -t

Otuput:

	2-1.1:1.1: No such file or directory
	/: Bus 02.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=ehci_hcd/2p, 480M
	|__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 0, Class=hub, Driver=hub/6p, 480M
	|__ Port 1: Dev 6, If 0, Class=stor., Driver=usb-storage, 480M
	|__ Port 1: Dev 6, If 1, Class=vend., Driver=, 480M
	|__ Port 2: Dev 7, If 0, Class=stor., Driver=usb-storage, 480M
	|__ Port 3: Dev 5, If 0, Class=stor., Driver=usb-storage, 480M
	/: Bus 01.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=ehci_hcd/2p, 480M
	|__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 0, Class=hub, Driver=hub/6p, 480M
	|__ Port 3: Dev 3, If 0, Class='bInterfaceClass 0x0e not yet handled', Driver=uvcvideo, 480M
	|__ Port 3: Dev 3, If 1, Class='bInterfaceClass 0x0e not yet handled', Driver=uvcvideo, 480M
	|__ Port 4: Dev 7, If 0, Class='bInterfaceClass 0xe0 not yet handled', Driver=btusb, 12M
	|__ Port 4: Dev 7, If 1, Class='bInterfaceClass 0xe0 not yet handled', Driver=btusb, 12M

In our next post we will see other hardware device properties.

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Surendra Anne

Mr Surendra Anne is from Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India. He is a Linux/Open source supporter who believes in Hard work, A down to earth person, Likes to share knowledge with others, Loves dogs, Likes photography. He works as Devops Engineer with Taggle systems, an IOT automatic water metering company, Sydney . You can contact him at surendra (@) linuxnix dot com.

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